SRAM XX + road bike
 

I generally get along just fine, and actually prefer, a standard double setup. However, there are a few times each year when I would not mind a stupid-low-gear, such as the final few miles of Everest Challenge. For various reasons (but mostly because of my Quarq CinQo power meter) I don't want to change my crank for that one event, so I watched with much interest as rumors of SRAM's forthcoming 10 speed double "XX" mountain bike group leaked out, and picked the RD and cassette when it became available. Yes, the price tag on that cassette is obscene, and no, I didn't pay that.

http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/8206.jpg

I needed an RD to complete my cross bike anyway, which also has a standard crank for power metering reasons, so the RD lived on the Tricross for a time, and happily coexisted with the Red road shifters. Jump ahead to this weekend, I'm staying with my in-laws for Christmas and planned on spending the day riding around the Santa Monica mountains, home to some steep, albeit not particularly long climbs. No trouble, I've done them just fine on my 39x26.

However, complicating the matter, my coach directed me to keep my power under 220W and my cadence at 85-90rpm on the climbs. A few quick calculations and I figured that even with my 39x28 that limited me to about 6% grades. Well, that just wouldn't do, all the fun climbs are much steeper than that! So I fast-tracked my plans and spent about an hour swapping the XX RD onto my Tarmac. The cable routing presented an interesting challenge, as it enters the RD from the top instead of the back, and I didn't want to alter the cable and housing so that I can easily swap back. I had to zip-tie the excess to the seat-stay so that it wouldn't flop out and hit my foot.

http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/8556.jpg

http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/8555.jpg

It works seamlessly with the road shifters, the trick cassette is really nice and the extra gear helped me keep my cadence up, most of the time. Yes, it's dirty, I just got back.

http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/8557.jpg

http://www.photoscene.com/kimandsteve/images/8558.jpg

is it the XX 11-32 cassette?

Yeah. The gearing it gave me was roughly equivalent to a 34/28. Compact for a day, but with the top-end of a standard. :D

I actually want to do something like this on my Orbea. My 11/26 cassette is fine for most of the time but sometimes I want to climb steep grades and I just don't have enough leg. So I'm thinking of switching to an 11/28 or 12/30 Shimano cassette for those days of nothing but "UP."

My Rival RD should handle the extra teeth and the spacing between the cog plates is the same. The results should be the same as yours (but cheaper).

The Rival can handle the 28 but I don't think it would make it to 30. Even with the B-limit all the way on my wife's bike it barely clears the 28 as it is. Also you have to consider the chain wrap capacity.

Nice set-up, and good pics. Is that a gold chain?

Nice. It won't be long before the Road rear derailleurs have direct cable mount rather than the traditional location so you won't have to zip tie the rear loop

Yes

It seems that it's meant for the RD cable stop to be on the seat stay instead of the chain stay. Maybe is that how mountain bikes are?

Nice pics and description, as usual.

Thanks.

I'm surprised nobody has said I'm a weak girly-man for wussing out and grabbing and extra gear. ;)

in that case, your a weak girly-man for wussing out and grabbing and extra gear. ;)

Neat. I had to reread the OP to notice you did mention your tricross has a standard crank. I was wondering about the chain lengths.

My knees have already put me on a compact. This is another half step before I'm forced into a full blown triple... or mtb setup.

Nice write up


and you're a weak girly-man for wussing out and grabbing and extra gear.

that cassette looks like jewelry.....so beautiful.

I used a KMC X10SL without removing any links on my cross bike, but still the chain is too short. Big/Big would probably rip off the RD. I moved the chain over to the Tarmac along with the RD and cassette. The chainstays are shorter, so the chain is not too short on it.

Also, I meant to mention, that in addition to the direct cable routing, the RD also uses a single size of torx head for everything instead of the mix of various hex sizes and flat/phillips heads on the road RDs.

Well, I think that was implicit. It's the kind of behavior most of us probably think about, but never act upon.

I use a triple, you'll get no smack talk from me.
I read about the XX and thought it would be good to build a light mtb with.

i think that goes without mention.

Well I wanted to, but then remembered I am using 50/34 12/27 gears. lol

May I ask why? Overtraining?

"If you overtrained, it means that you didn't train hard enough to handle that level of training. So you weren't overtrained; you were actually undertrained to begin with." (Landis)

He's not undertrained to handle the level of training he's doing now. He's just doing a hard ride Saturday.

good call on this umd, and i'm opening a new window to order some nokons now, i cant look at pictures of your bike anymore and not own them, seems like a good winter project.

Thanks for posting this set up UMD. I am going to set my Tricross up the same. When the prices come down a little of course.

Anyone else using this?

I have XX crank on my commuter with FORCE RD and XX FD. Very useful. I will be also putting XX RD on one of my road bikes for one specific race where I need 55x11 for downhill sprint and 42x32 for one big climb.